This invention relates to a holder or keeper for an article and, in particular, to a keeper which is adapted to prevent unauthorized removal or theft of the article.
In many environments where small, valuable articles are displayed for sale, keepers have been developed for the articles as a means for making theft of the articles more difficult. Keepers of this type may take on a variety of forms. In one form, the keeper is designed to be locked to the article. Unless the keeper is removed by a special key or detaching device, which is used at the time the article is paid for, the presence of the keeper renders the article useless.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,797 discloses a keeper of this type adapted for use with compact discs and tape cassettes. The keeper of the '797 patent is specifically designed to be locked directly to the hinged box (the so-called "jewel box") containing the compact disc or tape cassette. This is accomplished by using a U-shaped latch element configured to engage an already existing aperture in the jewel box.
More particularly, in the unlocked position, the U-shaped latch element is held by the frame of the keeper so as to be outside the volume of the frame receiving the jewel box. In the locked position, the U-shaped latch element extends into this volume and enters and engages the aforementioned aperture in the jewel box. The latch element thereby locks the jewel box to the frame.
The '797 patent mentions that the transverse edges of the legs of the U-shaped latch element may be made sharp to cut through any plastic film or cellophane wrapping enclosing the jewel box. The patent also mentions that the keeper can be provided with some type of marker adapted to activate a sensing system, in order to detect any attempts to remove the keeper from the premises.
Because of the manner of construction of the keeper of the '797 patent, its use has been confined to compact discs and cassettes whose jewel boxes have existing apertures and either have no outer wrapping or an outer wrapping of plastic film or cellophane. Thus, the '797 patent keeper cannot be used where the articles to be protected are packaged within sturdier outer packaging, such as, for example, the elongated cardboard, paperboard or fiberboard boxes used to package many compact discs.
Other keepers have been proposed for use with such sturdier packaging. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,805,769 and 4,834,238 disclose two keepers of this type. The keepers of these patents, however, require complicated mechanical locking arrangements, which tend to detract from their usefulness.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a keeper for an article which is of relatively simple construction and easy to use with sturdy types of outer packaging.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a keeper for an article contained in an outer package which permits positive locking of the keeper to the outer package.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a keeper for an article in which locking and unlocking of the article to the keeper is verified to the user.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a keeper for an article having a paperboard, fiberboard, cardboard or the like outer packaging.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a detaching device for unlocking or releasing a keeper from an article.